Evaluation Task 7- Looking back at my preliminary task, what do I feel I have learnt in the progression from it to the product?

Camera work
In our prelim we didn't use a wide range of shots compared to our final thriller. We mainly used close ups, medium shots, long shots and over the shoulder shots in our prelim, however we did use the 180 degree rule. Where as in our final thriller, we were able to use high angle shots and low angle shots, as well as panning and tracking shots. Moreover we held the camera more steady in our thriller compared to our prelim, as during our prelim was the first time using the camera equipment. Overall, our camera work is much more effective in our thriller now as it helps build up the suspense by using the appropriate camera shots at the right times. Furthermore, we were able to have more exclusive shots such as a GoPro shot where we weren't able to have this luxury when we filmed our prelim.                                                  Low angle shot in our thriller

Wide shot in our prelim 






Mise en Scene

We received the script and storyboard from our teacher on the day of filming our prelim, and were able to shoot in certain locations in the school. In our prelim we didn't use any mise en scene apart from the actors; as the costumes were just the clothes our actors were wearing that day, we didn't use any extra lighting just the natural lighting and lastly there were no extra props involved as the storyboard we were given didn't require any. Therefore our prelim used very basic mise en scene, with not much- this made our prelim less effective. Where as in contrast to our thriller, we learnt that adding more mise en scene would make our thriller more enticing and exhilarating, as we knew this was something missing from our prelim. In our thriller we added mise en scene including: specific actors we chose that would fit the role, the clothes they would be wearing like the smart suits, the extra props we would use like the fancy car and the gun, outdoor lighting and a specific setting that would fit our plot and make the camera work look better. Mise en scene is more effective in our thriller, as it helps us to attract our target audience (24-29) as we were able to add special features that matched thriller conventions such as weapons like guns. Mise-en-scene therefore helped us to achieve our overall professional look and this was something we learned from our prelim.



The fancy car added professionalism to our thriller which was part of our mise-en-scene.








A gun was added to our mise-en-scene as this matches conventions of a thriller, helping to attract our target audience. 






Selecting suitable costumes which matched the characters roles was an important part of our mise-en-scene. 



These props which were a huge part of our mise-en-scene shows our understanding of the thriller genre and conventions that our target audience expect from a thriller. This shows our improvement from our preliminary task which was extremely basic. 





Editing

In our prelim the editing isn't very effective as we only cropped clips out and put all the clips together. We were new to the editing software too which meant we weren't able to use all the professional editing techniques. Whereas in our final product we took advantage of all the editing tools available to us, to improve our final product and make it as professional as possible. We manipulated the pace of the car driving towards the secluded location to build suspense to make the audience on edge and excited. We also added cinematic effects such as a red filter that goes well our theme and which was saw was used in a similar thriller, 'Goodfellas.' In addition, the editing process was a significant stage in the progression of our thriller, as we were able to manipulate clips to improve them, as if the camera shots were unclear or shaky  we could improve them through editing. For example, in the close up of Michael Callaghan loading the gun we noticed that the inside of the gun could be seen which was orange not black, however due to our editing we were able to manipulate the scene in a way that the gun appeared all black. Overall our editing was much more successful in our final thriller compared to our prelim as we were able to use more advanced techniques which matched the difficult camera shots we used in filming; making our film more professional.

Sound

Our use of sound improved in our final product from our prelim, as in our prelim we only used diegetic sound which was the dialogue from our actors. Where as in our final product we added a sound track which played throughout our thriller because we knew it was more professional and it can be edited to be quieter and louder at certain parts to build up suspense. Also the soundtrack helps convey our genre of our film and helps present the different aspects of our mise en scene. This is because the music is subtly there which matching conventions of a thriller and makes the film sophisticated and much more tense. This allows us to attract our target audience that is interested in this genre, where as in our prelim we didn't use a soundtrack making it more boring for audience members. This meant we weren't able to attract our target audience and present our mise en scene through the sound. Furthermore, in our prelim we had the diegetic dialogue of the actors, whereas in our thriller we have a non-diegetic voiceover from an older version of Dennis Callaghan reflecting on his first Mafia trip. This gives more clarity to audience of what is going on and what it is building up to. In addition, we were able to edit out all the irrelevant background noise in our product and add special effects such a birds chirping to build up suspense of the secluded location, as well as adding the big bang from the gun shot. In contrast, in our prelim we couldn't mute out any background noises as all we used was diegetic sound so there was no sound effects or music to replace this. In addition we used the dialogue we were given for the prelim, where as we wrote our own dialogue for our final product. Therefore our use of sound is more effective in our final product compared to our prelim, as we were more advanced at using the software so we were able to use these different sound techniques to improve our final product. 


Teamwork 

Our teamwork improved quite a lot from our prelim because by the time it came to starting to work on our final product, we all knew what we were strongest at. Also in the filming of the prelim we all wanted to try filming for the first time so we didn't even out the camera time for everyone. Overall we learnt how to work well as a team by the end of our final product, which helped contribute to the success of our final thriller as we had different people more responsible for different roles as we all had strengths and weaknesses.